AWD E36 BMW

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

I’m really enjoying this part of the build, no rushing and taking the time to get it right before I move onto the next phase.

I have the front LCA’s to make then the front diff/rack mount crossmember and the front is pretty much done.

I’m planning one step ahead and looked at how the rear LCA mounts were going to go this morning.

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

I guess the Lexcan was a good test mule, although that’s maybe a little harsh on the old girl.  But you sort of have been able to trial it first, so that’s got to be a lot of good experience to draw on for this one.  Very interested to see how it performs once its up and running

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Yep the Lexcen was a HUGE learning experience, I’m trying to build on it and make every single piece better, I hope it is a lot nicer/faster to drive but having said that the Lexcen was never slow just difficult..

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

I was told (not sure it’s true) that the Porsche design philosophy is they only change something if they can make it better.  If they can’t they leave it alone.  Supposedly its one of the reasons the 911 hasn’t fundamentally changed that much, certainly until the 996 came along anyway.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Yeah it’s really easy to start changing things “because” when doing a build like this, I have to pull myself up and not go nuts…

Porsche may know a thing or two 

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Long day was long.. got the LCA’s roughed out will finish them up tomorrow, I bent the 10mm plate in the 50 ton press, pity they only put a 10 ton gauge on it that doubles as a fountain when pushed hard,

Just deleted it, also the clutch in my 36v cordless shat itself, luckily I have one in my old electrically dead drill so will fix that in the morning…

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

That’s beautiful work make.  Simple and elegant, as all good design should be.  I try to teach my guys “it takes a lot of work to make something simple”  love it.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Thanks, I apply K.I.S.S as often as I can these days..

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Did the Drill rebuild, all went well so I put the old dead one back together so I wouldn’t lose any of my “spares” chucked a battery in it out of curiosity, of course now the clutch works fine..

Got one LCA done just came up to grab a bite to eat and I’ll go back down and knock #2 over.

[MicksParticipant View build HERE Member since: February 20, 2019 Posts: 1 772]

Looking very neat IJ 

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Thanks Mick!

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And then there were two!

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Was all set for a CBF’d day then Allan bought up a valid point, I’d be an idiot not to listen to someone that knows their shit and while I’m a bit “special” at times I like to think I’m not an idiot..

So after a bit of consultation and Al heading off my Battleship tendencies we settled on some 50x3mm with holes (I was heading towards 5mm but in this case the 3mm makes perfect sense)

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

An idiot you most certainly are not!!  Nice work.  I guess it doesn’t come under much stress once the wishbone is mounted in the car?  The mounts themselves stop them spreading?

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by  VRSenator065.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Yeah it’s mainly there isn’t a lot of structure between the front and rear mounts, the arms would probably have been ok as they were but fatigue life might have been an issue at some point due to using the rod ends this time, better safe than sorry.

On a plus note I don’t have to hack into the front torque boxes there’s clearance at full lock!

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Today’s brain teaser, I need to build two sets of rack mounts as I’ve settled on two mounting locations for the LCA’s, the issue here is the LCA mounts aren’t vertical so the rack needs to move forward when it’s setup for Dirt.

I’ve been pondering this for a few days now and as usual came up with a solution at 4am, it means I have to go buy some specific bolts I don’t have here so off to Bendigo again.bzzzzz Tonner says no..

The battery has been a bit weak since the cold weather kicked in and it’s sat all weekend so no go not even a click, grabbed my jumper battery and it started first kick, put it in the shed and swapped the Blue top Optima I used in the race car into it, not the easiest of jobs as it’s mounted under the car…

Success so off to Bendigo to collect my bolts, a whole $16 worth… Probably burnt more in fuel, did some supermarket shopping grabbed my lotto and headed home, unloaded then built my Rack fixture, it locates on the steering arms so no matter where I put the LCA’s the rack will follow.

I’ll build the front Diff/Rack crossmember then it’s just a matter of making brackets from it to the rack, swap in the longer shocks drop the LCA’s and repeat, also while I was under the Tonner something Craig and Allan had mentioned was on my mind..

I checked what Holden have done in regards to antisquat/antidive geometry, they went neutral, so I have to figure there’s a reason and followed their lead, I’ll still dial in some rear antisquat and see how it behaves, also managed to Munt my left shoulder somehow so may not be a lot of progress for a bit…

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

When I built the Rack fixture I left it a bit low to allow me to shim it up into the perfect position, the steering arms were 3mm crooked and I’d planned to bend one side to match to level the rack before welding brackets..

Brain kicked in this morning, everything is adjustable now so I went down and tweaked it here and there added in some Shims and it’s now perfect, too easy, that’s me done for the day, Neck/Shoulder needs a break.

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

As always nice work mate, after the last few weeks, you’re probably due for a break.

[MicksParticipant View build HERE Member since: February 20, 2019 Posts: 1 772]

Knowing you, will be back at it first thing in the morning!

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

VRSenator065 wrote:

As always nice work mate, after the last few weeks, you’re probably due for a break.

Yeah gettin a bit weary of it all..

Micks wrote:

Knowing you, will be back at it first thing in the morning!

LOL didn’t last that long…

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I really need to stop thinking…

Went down and test fitted the longer Coilovers, bzzzz turns out in my efforts to get the best ground clearance I could for tarmac the front diff is now too high to work with the CV joints limited range of movement, the axles intersect the bottom of the shocks by a huge margin..

So totally screwed the pooch on this one DOH, I can probably get another 40 to 50mm of ground clearance by winding the tarmac shocks up and dropping the LCA’s down to keep the roll centres right so not a total disaster… Need to think this through.

My off-road tyres are the same diameter as these so another 40 to 50mm it should be fine.. greatly simplifies the rack mounts as well.

Proof of concept mockup..

Wouldn’t have slept well tonight if I hadn’t gone down to check… So much for resting the shoulder…

[Chris (agentcrm)Participant SC, CTVR Statesman 1968 Skoda 1202 View build HERE Member since: March 2, 2015 Posts: 82]

What, not making a complete quick change front end. 😂😝

All the fab work looks great.

[Anonymous View build HERE Member since: January 1, 1970 Posts: 0]

Great idea that had been discussed at length, the layout of the car and suspension just made it too difficult to pull off, it’ll easily have enough travel to cope, I’ve ordered a second set of the short Coilovers that will be dedicated for dirt tracks to make the changeover easier..

Thanks Chris, I’m pretty happy with the progress!

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My arm is still totally Munted, I’ll give it a few more days rest and see how it pulls up, guess I have to accept that I’m getting old and am more prone to breakdowns..

[VRSenator065Participant Adelaide SAVR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project) View build HERE Member since: February 17, 2015 Posts: 5 777]

Happy birthday mate    

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